The Cold and Dreary Night
by Clan LeFemme
Summary: As Shadow must learn, not all things last forever.


The Cold and Dreary Night

**"The Cold and Dreary Night"**

by Clan LeFemme [(clanlefemme@hotmail.com][1])

written by Shadow Gargoyle ([mountainwinds@yahoo.com][2])

Created on 03/06/1999

Revised on 06/29/2001

Authors' Note: **_Gargoyles_** and everything associated with them belong to Buena Vista and Disney. They do not belong to Clan LeFemme and we make no claims to them. This is done purely for fun. The character of Shadow Gargoyle belongs to the author and may not be used without permission. Feedback is welcomed, just please be constructive. This is the next segment of the Clan LeFemme Series. Enjoy! :) 

Also, please visit the Clan's homepage to see pictures of some of the characters as well as the authors' own character descriptions, floor plans for Janua Caeli, and another peak at the Clan's stories at: [http://www.geocities.com/clanlefemme/][3]

Description: As Shadow must learn, not all things last forever. 

Rating: PG-13 for content and language. 

_**The Cold and Dreary Night**_

A young tan gargess glided across the night sky, her form a silhouette against the bright white light of the moon. Closing her wings, she dove for a lone building. A few precious seconds before becoming a part of the rooftop, she opened her long dark, velvety wings. With her wings open, she came almost to a halt in mid-air and landed with a grace that was inhuman.

She had to grin at the thrill of it. She loved gliding. It was one of her favorite things to do; next to experimenting with magics.

She stood up straight, regaining her posture as she listened and watched with her sharp senses. Her hair had grown out, no longer curly, but long and straight. Instead of the raven color it once was, it was now a dark brown, almost black in the shadows. Her eyes were the same, held the same color and quality as before but now, betrayed her gargoyle side of her nature. A glint of mischief shown in them most of time, revealing that she wasn't all that she seemed. Aside from growing taller, she also began to stand straighter, something that most gargoyles can not do. She wasn't a pure gargoyle, deep inside she was also fey. Not much of that side shown though. She had the usual long gargoyle wingspan, the thick, long tail; but she possessed magic.

She silently yawned with boredom. She loved following her new family around but there were times, such as this one, that she wished she could be doing something fun.

Male laughter was heard from below. Jumping to the edge of the rooftop and looking below, she watched as Bryan and one of his friends left the tavern.

She had followed Bryan to look after him as he attended some business meeting in the local tavern. Melissa had recommended that she follow him and look after him, actually it was more like request. As far as Shadow knew, Bryan had not been drinking. His friend, on the other hand, was a different story. She almost had to giggle as she heard him faintly stumbling over his own words. She watched as Bryan smiled and waved bye to his friend.  
The other man, grasped Bryan's hand in a firm handshake and nodded with a lopsided grin. Releasing his hand, the man walked to his car.

She watched as Bryan walked in his own and started it up. She shivered slightly, watching the snow fall softly to the ground. Most gargoyles were not affected by the cold, but due to her other nature, she was. Reluctantly, she uncapped her wings, the cold wind biting at her skin. She spread them as wide as she could and angled them because she knew she was going to have to be gliding against the wind.

She watched as Bryan's car eased out of the parking space and down the road. Once he was out of the parking spot she dove off the building in pursuit. She never saw the other man pull out. His car, almost hitting a tree on the other side of the road.

The wind was loud. It howled and pushed against the icy branches of the great trees that surrounded the road. The howling of the wind blocking out every other sound. She sighed, watching her breath blow quickly behind her in a white cloud of steam.

Looking down, that was when she saw it. She cried out, but the wind carried away her words. She watched, filled with horror at the two cars on the road. The car behind Bryans' slammed into his from behind. She heard the honk of a horn and the crash of metal and glass of the cars. She knew who was behind both wheels. And she knew that one of them was drunk. She silently blamed herself for not paying attention and realizing the danger. But there was no time for that.

She looked ahead and saw the bridge. The bridge. She knew that one of them wouldn't make it. She saw the surface, clean with ice. The ice blue and white of the combination of cold and water shining in the dim light of the moon.

She watched as Bryan's car, the horn still blaring, sliding towards the bridge. She closed her wings and began her struggle with the wind. She pulling forward, and the wind pulling her back. She needed to get there. To get to him. She promised that he would be home safe. And now it was going to be her fault.

She watched, as the car slid across the ice and into the old rusted metal of the bridge. She heard the smash and the whine of the beams on the bridge as the car broke through them She yelled out again, furiously trying to win her battle. The wind stinging her eyes, her muscles in her wings and back straining out, the coldness of the air wrapping around her like a dark veil. But worst of all, was the pain. The pain in her heart, because she knew she wasn't - couldn't get there in time. She knew that no one could survive such a crash. She knew she would half to tell Melissa. She knew that she would have to tell James, their four year old son that his daddy wasn't coming home.

The car stopped, balancing on the edge of the bridge, it twisted metal frame caught between the rusted beams of the bridge. That was when the other car came gliding across the bridge. With a loud sound of smashing metal, the car hit Bryans'. She knew she was too late as she watched the creak and groan of the bridge and watched the car hit the ice below. The ice held for several moments. But with lines in the ice forming, the ice slowly cracked in two. The car plunging into the icy depths below.

With a loud battle cry filled with pain and anger, she released herself from the wind. She hit the snow on the banks of the ice-filled river. The snow cushioned her fall but still she hurt. She watched the car, floating silently in the ice, the rear end sticking up out of the water.

She looked back up at the bridge and watched with anger as the other guy slowly got out of his car.

_I don't believe him! He was drinking! And still he gets out of the car unharmed!_ She felt like jumping up to the bridge and making him punish for his crimes. She didn't know how, but she suppressed her anger. Glaring at the man as he walked back towards the tavern.

She watched the car in the ice and grieved in silence. The anger, the pain, the unfairness of it all boiling inside her. Ignoring the cold she sat up in the snow, tears blurring her vision.

Sometime later she heard sirens and flashing blue and red lights. Reluctantly she stood and climbed a tree. Setting high in the branches, where she remained for most of the night, she watched as they removed the car slowly from the ice. She watched and listened painfully as she heard their report.

She listened to grave quietness of his voice and didn't even stay to hear the rest. Snapping her wings, she dove from the tree.

She did not need to, nor want to hear what she already knew. She fought the wind for most of the evening, muddled in her thoughts.

Finally she saw the house in the distance. Dread filled her, she knew she had failed. Why was she returning? She did not know the answers to herself and cursed herself silently again over her failure.

It was then she saw the familiar lights again. Landing quietly in the tree outside the house, she watched from outside at the scene taking place before her inside.

A uniformed officer stood silently at the door while Melissa cried on the couch. James sat silently, he himself, crying too. He and his mother were together in a firm hug. Shadow watched the scene painfully. She watched as the officer uncertainly walked over and patted Melissa reassuringly on the shoulder and slowly exit the room. She watched as he got into his own car and pull out of the driveway.

It was then that Melissa looked out of the window, her eyes red and puffy, full of tears, still crying and mourning over her husband's death. It was then that Melissa saw Shadow. Shadow was about to back away to the comfort of the shadows of the forest, but knew it was too late. Melissa had already seen her.

She watched as Melissa quietly ushered James up the stairs where she herself, disappeared for several moments. She then heard a screen door slam and heard the pain-filled yell of Melissa as she screamed out into the night.

Her hair was uncombed and she wore only a flannel night gown covered by a bath robe and slippers. With her arms spread out wide she spun around in circles staring at the trees and the sky, "I trusted you! How could you! How could you!"

She repeated the words several times again before she collapsed in the snow, in a crying heap. Shadow cautiously climbed down the tree and walked slowly towards Melissa, her wings caped. She stood next to Melissa for only a few seconds before Melissa turned hurled a rock at Shadow. Shadow didn't even know that Melissa had a rock, and so was slow to react. She winced and stumbled back as the rock hit her shoulder.

She looked down at her shoulder, at the blood slowly dripping from the deep wound. The rock had made hit it's target. Melissa seemed pleased for a moment before her eyes turned icy. She glared at Shadow, and cussed her up one way and down the other. Shadow just listened, the words cutting like a dagger. It was then that Melissa stopped and calmly raised her voice, the voice that was now just as icy as her eyes. "I want you to leave. I want you to leave now, tonight. Never return. If you do...I swear I will make you pay for what you have done tonight. You have caused enough damage here. I don't know why I let you live, but maybe you living with what you have done is just the punishment you need. Go somewhere else. Just leave. Bother someone else. Go away!" With that she turned, and Shadow heard sobs cracking her calm voice and watched her run towards the house.

Shadow stood there for a few moments, hurt by the words and what she had failed in that night. Only a brush across her leg, minutes later, awakened her from her thought. She glanced down and stared at the face of Tuffy.  
Bending down slowly, she lifted him up. He cried once in protest but then settled against her, purring happily. Shadow lowered her head to his warm fur and cried.

Realizing what she was doing she stopped and looked at Tuffy. Tuffy stared back at her with his emerald cat green eyes. He looked at her with his own face and then brushed his head against her shoulder, reassuring her, in his own way, that everything was going to be fine.

Shadow managed a smile. Climbing a nearby tree and gliding off into the icy air of the remainder of the night, she finally realized something. She knew where she was going. Perhaps she was meant to go there all along. She was leaving New York. She needed to start over. She didn't know where she was going but she'd know when she got there.

Those memories of that night... still haunting her dreams and thoughts.

**The End**

   [1]: mailto:{clanlefemme@hotmail.com
   [2]: mailto:mountainwinds@yahoo.com
   [3]: http://www.geocities.com/clanlefemme/



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